Lutheran Seminary Hosts ‘Beyoncé Mass.’ Yes, It’s Exactly What It Sounds Like
In May 2022, Luther Seminary helped to bring Beyoncé Mass at the Plymouth Congregational Church in South Minneapolis. Luther Seminary is the largest seminary of the heretical Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), with 412 students, and is about as progressive an institution as they come.
Beyoncé Mass is “a womanist worship service that uses the music and personal life of Beyoncé as a tool to foster an empowering conversation about Black women—their lives, their bodies, and their voices.”
It was created and organized by theologian and ‘reverend’ Yolanda Norton, who, as the Chair of Black Church Studies at San Francisco Theological Seminary, teaches a class on Beyoncé and the Hebrew Bible where she “uses the pop idol’s songs to interpret biblical scripture through a black feminist lens.” Norton told the Star Tribune the decision to come to Minneapolis was an easy one:
We’re having critical conversations about how Black women transform spaces and how we do God work and how we do justice work. Of course you have to be in Minneapolis. The city has been decimated over and over again by injustice.
We want to honor that work as holy and want to name, in particular, that George Floyd Square is sacred ground. The way that folks have continued to create and thrive and honor the legacy of a man who was killed, it’s God’s work. So that’s how we got here.”
The event includes a social justice sermon explicitly promoting liberation theology and radical feminist ideology, scripture reading, worshipping to Beyoncé songs, and a recital of bizarre womanist reinterpretations of the Lord’s prayer.
Rev. DeWayne Davis, whose church hosted the event, lamented that people were suggesting the event was profane, arguing:
Beyoncé is very honest in what she’s feeling. And sometimes I don’t think church allows for that without the fear of being judged. But here’s someone whose voice is lifted up because she’s really wrestling with what it means to be a woman, to be in love, to be heard. To be imperfect. And she’s bringing it out front. I’m sure church should be a place where people should feel comfortable doing that. The idea of grace means something.
While Lutheran Seminary’s service was not recorded, here is an earlier one from the Kennedy Center, so you can get the drift.
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